Copyright 1999 P.G. Publishing Co.
Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette
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July 7, 1999, Wednesday, SOONER EDITION
SECTION: EDITORIAL, Pg. A-10, LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
LENGTH: 1184 words
HEADLINE:
WE SHOULD INSIST ON INSURANCE PARITY FOR MENTAL ILLNESS
BYLINE: RICHARD S. JEVON; MCCANDLESS; EDITOR'S NOTE:
THE WRITER IS PRESIDENT OF THE ALLEGHENY COUNTY MENTAL; HEALTH/MENTAL
RETARDATION BOARD.; ROBERT DUVAL; UPPER ST. CLAIR; BERNIE BEHREND; SQUIRREL
HILL; EDITOR'S NOTE: THE WRITER, ALTHOUGH CURRENTLY PRESIDENT OF THE FAMILY;
MEDIATION COUNCIL OF WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA, IS NOT SPEAKING ON BEHALF; OF THE
ORGANIZATION.; ROBERT L. DEFAZIO, D.M.D.; ASPINWALL; JAMES E. CANNON; PRESIDENT;
INTERNATIONAL MARKETING CONSULTANTS; MT. LEBANON; NICHOLAS J. SCHAFER;
CORAOPOLIS
BODY:
Thank you and strongest
compliments for your June 24 editorial "Paying for Parity," supporting insurance
parity for citizens who suffer from mental illness.
Your clearly written
position identifies the critical elements of the issue:
There are
discriminatory financial limits on mental illness but not on other high-cost
health problems such as heart disease, kidney failure, etc.
Society and
insurers blame the sufferer for these diseases of the brain, and yet the
sufferer did nothing to cause the illness.
The alleged high cost of
treatment is not a reality, and, in fact, lower cost is possible especially when
considering lost productivity and family impact. Federal and state laws
identified as "parity" are indeed loaded with loopholes and discriminatory
conditions rendering them "non-parity."
We salute
President Clinton for requiring that federal employee health
plans provide the same coverage for mental illness and
substance abuse that they do for other diseases.
We call upon
Pennsylvania's legislators to wake up and leave their discrimination against
citizens with mental illness behind by enacting real insurance parity
legislation.
On behalf of all who suffer from mental illness and their
families, thank you again for your clear and strong support of parity.
RICHARD S. JEVON
McCandless
Editor's note: The writer is
president of the Allegheny County Mental Health/Mental Retardation Board.
Year 2000 shorthand
A thought on a different aspect of the Y2K
problem: What will we call things made in the year 2000?
We are used to
dating many things with the last two numbers of the year, such as a "' 71 Nova"
or a "' 99 Caddy." What will next year's models be called?
Will we call
it a "2K Mustang"? No, that sounds like a multicolored bird, not a high-spirited
and fast racer.
How about using the two zeroes? Then we would have an
"Oh-oh Chevy." I don't think GM would like that at all.
I'm going to use
"double zero" until popular use indicates otherwise.
ROBERT DUVAL
Upper St. Clair
About family mediation
hank you for the
informative article about the Pittsburgh Mediation Center ("Volunteer Mediators
Help to Settle Differences Out of Court," June 28). The center is an important
community asset, and mediation is an extremely effective and satisfying method
of dispute resolution.
I would like to call your attention, however, to
the statement that mediation is not used for cases involving divorce and custody
issues. I am afraid that this comment will be misunderstood.
Although
the Pittsburgh Mediation Center chooses not to mediate such cases, they are
perfectly appropriate for mediation, and thousands of parents and separated
couples have found mediation a useful method to resolve their custody and
divorce issues.
The Family Division of the Allegheny County Court of
Common Pleas, in fact, requires parents in custody disputes to try mediation
before going to a hearing. Other family disputes are mediated by the city's
well-trained, professional mediators in private practice.
BERNIE BEHREND
Squirrel Hill
Editor's note: The writer, although currently
president of the Family Mediation Council of Western Pennsylvania, is not
speaking on behalf of the organization.
Cheers for ad campaign
I
am thrilled to see that the Pennsylvania Department of Health has started an
anti-smoking billboard campaign. The series of ads, featuring a cigarette shaped
as a bullet or a syringe along with other amusing pictures and sayings, is
excellent.
The department should be commended for trying to pound home
the idea that cigarettes kill.
The effects cigarettes have had on the
health-care industry have been overwhelming. When you factor in lost production
in the work force along with personal pain and suffering, it's amazing people
still choose to smoke in 1999. Here's hoping the ad campaign is a huge success.
ROBERT L. DeFAZIO, D.M.D.
Aspinwall
Show me the jobs
It is refreshing to hear politicians admit they do not know something.
Fortunately, Mayor Murphy and Allegheny County Commissioner Bob Cranmer are in
good company. Other than a handful of people, no one seems to know what any of
these so-called economic development groups actually do ("Murphy, Cranmer Fault
Private Economic Groups," May 28).
Conducting junkets might add some
frequent flier miles for these tour guides, but I have yet to see any evidence
of the creation of one job due to their efforts. They seem to have no other
purpose than to create jobs for themselves.
I had the experience a few
years ago of contacting many of these groups, seeking help for a German company
trying to set up offices in Western Pennsylvania. The cut-off phone calls,
ignored messages and total lack of any help would have been irritating, or
perhaps even amusing, had it not been for the fact that two years after we
opened offices for the German company I read about one of these groups taking
credit.
The fact that the World Trade Center Pittsburgh is a private
company franchise, similar to Midas or McDonald's, should suggest a much more
narrow and selfish agenda.
Many of these groups are very effective in
various parts of the world. All of them, however, have some type of
accountability. If no one knows what these people do, perhaps it is time to quit
throwing good money after bad. We may not gain anything, but at least we can
stop losing money on worthless projects.
JAMES E. CANNON
President
International Marketing Consultants
Mt.
Lebanon
Where will it end?
It truly frightens me that people are
willing to so easily discuss throwing away one of their basic freedoms. This is
dangerous; if one was to debunk just one of their rights, who is to say what
other freedoms would follow? Who would tell the legislators to stop?
A
recent letter to the editor stated that other "industrialized nations" have far
stricter gun control laws, and therefore far less weapons fatalities ("It Takes
Only Common Sense to Know That Guns Are the Problem," July 1).
I believe
that Ramon Gardenhire was misinformed when he wrote this. This is simply not
true. One example is Switzerland, where each adult male is required to own a gun
for military service. Switzerland does not have a problem with school killings.
Another point I would like to discuss is the United States. Years ago we
had less strict gun control laws . . . and there were no school killings then,
such as those at Columbine High School this year. In the 1960s it was legal to
order a weapon through mail-order; it is not now.
Therefore, gun control
laws cannot have any impact on shootings.
This witch hunt has continued
for too long. America needs to look at itself and take blame for what she has
done. The blames goes to those who commit the crimes and, just as much, those
who have the ability to stop the shootings. This would include the guidance
counselors or the teachers who watched the movies made by the Columbine High
School shooters showing them pretending to murder football players in the
hallways.
NICHOLAS J. SCHAFER
Coraopolis
LOAD-DATE: July 8, 1999 
